There is a new sales trailer in front of the NH-Krystal Hotel that says “Icon Vallarta”. Icon Vallarta is a joint venture between the Related Group of Miami & NH-Krystal Vallarta.The trailer is not yet staffed, but they are pre-selling residences in 3 new towers (app. 25 stories each) and 7 beach villas, to be built on land at the northern end of the NH Krystal property. Access will be via an improved ave. de las Garzas (the side street between the Hacienda and the Krystal). This will mean that the basically low-rise NH-Krystal Hotel will be located between 3 towers at the Peninsula and 3 towers at Icon Vallarta. The architectural firm for both the Peninsula and Icon Vallarta is Arquitectonica, but with different design teams. The designer for Icon Vallarta is Phillipe Starck, one of the best known contemporary designers in the world. Work is already beginning.

Contrary to some rumors, the only Krystal buildings to be demolished to make way for the development will be the northern half of the old timeshare section (often called the “horseshoe” area). A new pool area will be built to replace the currently existing slide pool.

The new Icon Vallarta residence owners will have access to hotel facilities and will use NH Krystal hotel services (eg., maid and room service). The development will be exclusively residential (no retail, restaurants, banks or other service offices such as exist at the Peninsula.).

Apparently Lemmus (of the Peninsula Development) originally approached Jorge Pérez, co-founder of the Related Group, to partner with him, but a deal could not be reached. Nonetheless, Mr. Pérez really liked Vallarta and chose to partner with the Krystal instead. The Related Group has plans to expand to other parts of Mexico in the near future but this Vallarta joint venture is their first.

Argentinian-born of Cuban parents, Jorge M. Pérez is listed in the top 200 of the Forbes list of 400 wealthiest Americans. According to Forbes, his personal net worth increased from 1.2 billion in 2005, to 1.8 billion in 2006.